Pristipomoides multidens was first formally described in 1871 as Chaetopterus sieboldii by the Dutch ichthyologist, herpetologist and physician Pieter Bleeker in with its type locality given as Nagasaki.

[3] Bleeker did not specify who he was honouring in the specific name but it is thought likely to have been German physician and traveller, Philipp Franz von Siebold, who collected many fishes as specimens which were then described in the monograph series, Fauna Japonica, published by the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie in Leiden between 1833 and 1850.

[4] Pristipomoides sieboldii has an elongated, robust body which has a depth of roughly 30–40% of its standard length.

It is a predatory species which has a diet consisting largely of fishes, crustaceans, polychaetes, cephalopods and urochordates.

In Hawaii it is managed as part of the Deep 7 bottomfish hook and line fishery unit.